Ronning’s hat trick not enough as Giants fall in OT

Three goals from Ty Ronning were not enough as the Vancouver Giants fell in overtime.

The Giants were in Prince George on Wednesday night, wrapping up a five-game road trip, but it was the host Cougars securing the extra point in a 4-3 victory.

All of the goals came off two players’ sticks as Ronning provided all of the Vancouver offence. However, Prince George’s Josh Maser one-upped the Giants forward, scoring all four Cougar goals.

Ronning scored midway through the first for a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes and doubled the lead when he capitalized on a favourable bounce off the end boards. Maser cut the lead in half less than 90 seconds later and he tied the score eight seconds in the third period.

Prince George took their first lead of the night with 2:25 to play as Maser’s shot beat David Tendeck up high. With time winding down and Tendeck on the bench for an extra attacker, Ronning jammed a rebound of a James Malm shot past Prince George’s Taylor Gauthier.

The assist extended Malm’s point streak to eight games.

The winning goal came 2:49 into three-on-three hockey as Ryan Schoettler’s shot rang off the cross bar with Maser in the right place at the right time to bury the winner.

With his three goals, Ronning now sits at 39, good for second in the league. He is now just nine goals back of tying Evander Kane’s team record of 48.

The overtime loss helped the Giants secure nine out of 10 points on the road trip. Vancouver is unbeaten in their last eight road games (6-0-2-0) and the team has just two regulation losses (14-2-2-0) since Nov. 28.

Vancouver sits second in the B.C. Division at 24-14-4-2 and with 54 points, are just one back of the first-place Kelowna Rockets. The Rockets — who have three games in hand — are the Giants’ next opponent as the two teams square off at the Langley Events Centre on Jan. 13. Game time is 7 p.m.